Secret Beauty Ingredient: Sulfur

We often purchase beauty products because of the pull quotes on the front of the packages touting the seemingly impossible results. Unless you’re especially thorough, you skip the ingredients list on the back of the package – a crucial mistake made by many. “Secret Beauty Ingredient” is our way of finding those beauty ingredients that are becoming staples in the beauty world, or sometimes even better – beauty breakthroughs.

Our skin tends to be a primary concern when it comes to our beauty routine. No matter what new look we’re experimenting with, we always want a flawless canvas to work with, and that canvas typically comes from a fine-tuned skin care routine. If you’re one of the lucky few who has never had to deal with a breakout or dry skin in their lives, you can stop reading now. Otherwise – listen up. Sulfur has been a popular ingredient in skin care for years now, but many of you may not have realized what it is actually doing for your skin. The naturally occurring element (that we used to learn about in chemistry class) is a key acne fighter due to its antibacterial properties, which help to reduce the bacteria that cause blemishes while also drying up your skin, and thus drying up your blemishes.

Sulfur can also be used as an exfoliant, which is why it’s often used in masks. When used this way it has duals purposes (to exfoliate and battle acne) so it is a key ingredient to look for when you are having problem areas with your skin. And finally, you will occasionally find that sulfur is used in shampoo as it can also be useful for fighting dandruff as dandruff is dry skin on your scalp, and it has been proved to help fight current dandruff problems and prevent future outbreaks. Check out the slideshow above to see some of our favorite products that include sulfur in them, and let us know if there are any you use right now that you’re loving!